A rejuvenated George Kambosos Jr. is looking forward to demonstrating Saturday night that Maxi Hughes has made a mistake by accepting their 12-round fight for the IBO lightweight title.

Kambosos will fight for the first time since he suffered a second straight 12-round, unanimous-decision defeat to Devin Haney on October 16 at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia. England’s Hughes has won seven bouts in a row, but Australia’s Kambosos sees a flawed fighter who won’t be able to extend his streak in a 12-round main event ESPN will televise from FireLake Arena in Shawnee, Oklahoma.

“Maxi’s a good fighter,” Kambosos told BoxingScene.com. “He’s a good English fighter. He’s had a tough road and that’s the reason we chose this kinda guy to fight. We feel that he’s had a long career, a long journey, and he deserves [this] kinda shot at a guy like myself. But that’s where it stops. There are a lotta holes in his game and the more we’ve dissected him, the more we have seen. He’ll try his best, but there’s a big difference when you come from playing checkers and you start playing chess.”

The 33-year-old Hughes has beaten Irish contender Jono Carroll (24-2-1, 7 KOs) and England’s Kid Galahad (28-3, 17 KOs) during his winning streak. His 12-round, majority-decision victory over Galahad in his last fight, which took place September 24 in Nottingham, England, enabled Hughes to land this opportunity against a former unified lightweight champion.

An upset of Kambosos (20-2, 10 KOs), who is consistently listed as a 3-1 favorite, would move Hughes (26-5-2, 5 KOs) into position for an IBF 135-pound title shot because this is an IBF elimination match.

“Whatever he does, whatever mindset he has, that’s good, that’s fine,” Kambosos said. “But he has not put in the right sacrifice, he has not put in the hard work like I have put in. He has been in the UK, sparring local guys, guys that are novices, guys that are, you know, nowhere near the level that I have been at here in the U.S., preparing.

“I know the motivation he has, but unfortunately, [it’s] too late. He didn’t make the sacrifice and that will be shown on Saturday night. But again, we stay focused. We know that every fighter comes with two hands and we respect them. But levels will be shown Saturday night.”

The 30-year-old Kambosos is motivated to prove he is still a championship-caliber fighter in the lightweight division. Sydney’s Kambosos was unbeaten before he insisted on facing Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) in his first fight after he upset Teofimo Lopez by split decision in November 2021, rather than making a safer defense of his titles in his home country.

“There are some fantastic names in the division,” Kambosos said. “There’s one particular name that I really, really like, and I believe the Top Rank team will like as well. But that’s something we focus on once we do the business against Maxi Hughes. My mindset right now is not anyone else. It’s Maxi Hughes, and that’s it. That’s what it’s been like for many months. And that’s my motivation right now, taking him out.”

ESPN’s two-bout broadcast will feature emerging lightweight contender Keyshawn Davis (8-0, 6 KOs) in the 10-round co-feature, which will open a telecast set to start at 10 p.m. EDT (7 p.m. PDT). Davis, an Olympic silver medalist from Norfolk, Virginia, will face Francesco Patera (28-3, 10 KOs), of Genk, Belgium.

Kambosos-Hughes undercard coverage will begin on ESPN+ at 6:15 p.m. EDT (3:15 p.m. PDT).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.